Paytm Launches Android PoS Device For Contactless Ordering, Payments

Indian fintech decacorn Paytm has launched India’s first pocket Android point-of-sale (PoS) device for contactless ordering and payments. The company says that the device forms part of Paytm’s mission to empower small and medium enterprises (SMEs) with technology-led solutions for digital payments. 

‘Paytm All-in-One Portable Android Smart POS’ at an introductory price of INR 499 per month rental, is styled like a mobile phone for accepting orders and payments on the go. The company says that it’s the first such Android-based PoS device, as the ones currently being used in the country are powered by Linux. Among the other features available in the device are — contactless ordering software for SMEs, restaurants and takeaway joints, integrated billing software, camera for QR scanning, 4G-enabled, Wifi and Bluetooth connectivity. Paytm says it would invest INR 100 Cr in distribution and marketing of these devices in the fiscal year 2020-21. 

Renu Satti, senior vice president at Paytm said, “We innovate products and services that are aligned with our mission of enabling SMEs with technology-led solutions. We are confident that this affordable pocket-sized Paytm Android POS device will enable everyone from SMEs to delivery personnel of kirana stores to collect payments safely. It is our endeavour to help merchants and traders to easily digitise their business operations, without any investment in technology or backend infrastructure.”

The device, which weighs only 163 grams, is 12mm thick, and has a 4.5-inch touch screen, is integrated with the ‘Paytm for Business’ app, to generate GST compliant bills and also to manage all transactions and settlements. 

The ‘Paytm for Business’ app helps merchants avail business services such as loans, insurance, and business khata (account) to manage digital ledger of all their transactions including loan, cash, and card sales. 

PoS devices for contactless ordering and payments have come into the focus during the time of the Covid-19 pandemic, with social distancing norms pushing their adoption. Recently, RBI governor Shaktikanta Das, during his monetary policy statement, also talked about a soon-to-be-launched pilot for offline-based digital payments, to increase their adoption in areas with low internet bandwidth. 

This would be done with the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), which manages the unified payments interface (UPI), looking to add near-field communication (NFC) capabilities to its payments infrastructure to take on its rivals Visa, Mastercard and another NPCI-owned service Rupay.

Visa, Mastercard and RuPay offer contactless tap-and-go payments at point-of-sale, using the NFC feature. The tap-and-go contactless payment is not only easy and convenient to use. 

During the Global Fintech Fest (GFF) 2020 held last month, Paytm CEO Vijay Shekhar Sharma said that despite the overall fall in digital payments, his company had witnessed a 3.5x growth in digital payments during the lockdown, adding that the company was planning to venture into stockbroking. 

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